Following a period of isolation at the start of the Lockdown, Adam Caruso met host Matthew Blunderfield online to discuss teaching at ETH Zurich, the work of Pierre Huyghe, and the series of monographs on lesser-known Modernist architects he co-edits with with his partner, Helen Thomas.
"[When we started our practice] we were really interested in the syntax of architecture - how you make a brick wall, how you make an opening - and we believed that the syntax of architecture held within it the culture of architecture. And the reason we concentrated on that rather than the semiotics of architecture is that we didn’t believe so much in a shared language [for architecture to speak symbolically]. We live in a society that’s diverse and globalised, and I’m trying to find positive ways of engaging with those things”
Image: Pierre Huyghe After ALife Ahead Skulptur Projekte Münster, 2017
© flickr / stephane333
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Peter St John will give a lecture entitled, Transformation and Resources, at the University of Nottingham's Department of Architecture and Built Environment, on the 21st of February. The talk will explore the recent work of the office that focuses on the transformation of existing buildings.
Peter St John talks galleries, ice hockey and awards with Hugh Pearman, editor of the RIBA Journal
Caruso St John have previously collaborated with the artist Rachel Whiteread, together with Marcus Taylor, on proposals for the Holocaust Memorial in Victoria Park Gardens.
Recently, Rachel Whiteread made a cast in concrete of the steel staircase designed by the practice at the Gagosian Gallery, Kings Cross. The gallery in Kings Cross opened in 2004, and closed last year after moving to Mayfair.
To coincide with the Flanders Architecture Institute's exhibition As Found, director Dennis Pohl will chair a panel discussion on experimental approaches to the transformation of existing buildings in Belgium and the UK. The discussion will feature Peter St John and Johan Anrys of 51N4E in conversation with exhibition co-curator Hülya Ertas. Register for tickets here
Royale Belge has won plaudits at the annual MIPIM real estate fair in Cannes. The project was shortlisted in two categories at the MIPIM Awards, Best Conversion and Best Mixed-use, and triumphed in both.
Exhibition
What if?
Unbuilt Architecture in Switzerland
SAM Basel
25th November 2023 – 7th April 2024
Two competition-winning projects by Caruso St John feature in What if? Unbuilt Architecture in Switzerland. The exhibition at Schweizerisches Architekturmuseum Basel offers a glimpse of an alternative Switzerland with a showcase of significant unbuilt projects from across the country.
Tate Britain features prominently in the BBC's trailer for the 2023 series of its Saturday night dance show, Strictly Come Dancing.
Exhibition
The Whole City
Hamburg Competitions and Procedures 2017–2023
Hamburg, Germany
23rd June – 14th July 2023
Several designs by Caruso St John feature in an exhibition by Hamburg's Department of Urban Development and Housing, presenting architectural competitions and procedures undertaken in the city from 2017 to 2023.
The first volume of Caruso St John's Collected Works is published this month by Mack Books. The publication covers the first fifteen years of Adam Caruso and Peter St John's partnership, following a thematic course shaped around key phases and aspects of their thinking, and offering a detailed reflection on the practice’s activities between 1990 and 2005. Through a chorus of voices including critics, clients, and artists, it narrates Caruso St John's early emergence and development through to the international recognition which came with projects such as Nottingham Contemporary, the New Art Gallery Walsall, and the Brick House.
Book launch, Milan
Caruso St John: Collected Works
Volume 2, 2000–2012
Spazio, Milano
7th December 2023
Milan's Spazio gallery and bookshop hosts an event to celebrate the publication of Caruso St John's Collected Works Volume 2. Adam Caruso will discuss the themes explored by the book, notably how the practice's work has been influenced by the architecture of 20th century Chicago and Milan.
Lecture and book launch, London
All buildings are beautiful
Collected Works Volume 2
Royal Academy, London
29th November 2023
Adam Caruso and Peter St John mark the launch of Caruso St John: Collected Works Volume 2 with a lecture at the Royal Academy.
The partners will discuss their experience of working with existing structures, from modestly scaled early work, to substantial projects such as Tate Britain and the Newport Street Gallery in London, Veemgebouw in Eindhoven and Royale Belge in Brussels.
Book launch, Zurich
Caruso St John: Collected Works
Volume 2, 2000–2012
Escher Wyss Platz, Zurich
19th November 2023
The launch of Caruso St John: Collected Works Volume 2, 2000–2012 will be marked with an outdoor launch event beneath the canopy of 301 Hardstrasse. The office building, designed by Caruso St John, stands in close proximity to Escher Wyss Platz, the intended site of the Nagelhaus, the public art project by Caruso St John and Thomas Demand, whose collaboration is one of the themes explored in the book.